Abstract

Background

The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) has been used in several languages
to assess anxiety and depression in general hospital patients with good results.

Methods

The HADS was administered to 521 participants (275 controls and 246 inpatients and
outpatients of the Internal Medicine and Surgical Departments in 'Attikon' General
Hospital in Athens). The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the State-Trait Anxiety
Inventory (STAI) were used as 'gold standards' for depression and anxiety respectively.

Results

The HADS presented high internal consistency; Cronbach's α cofficient was 0.884 (0.829
for anxiety and 0.840 for depression) and stability (test-retest intraclass correlation
coefficient 0.944). Factor analysis showed a two-factor structure. The HADS showed
high concurrent validity; the correlations of the scale and its subscales with the
BDI and the STAI were high (0.722 – 0.749).

Conclusion

The Greek version of HADS showed good psychometric properties and could serve as a
useful tool for clinicians to assess anxiety and depression in general hospital patients.